Come Follow Me: Genesis 24–27 “The Covenant is Renewed”

Come Follow Me Lesson Genesis 24-27

Rebekah Imanu (Rebekah Our Mother)
by Hilary Sylvester

This lesson gives us the opportunity to look at one of the great matriarchs in the Old Testament, Rebekah through two key stories: Rebekah serving Abraham’s servant at the well and Rebekah convincing Jacob to deceive Abraham in order that he receive the firstborn son blessing. Questions and comments directly from the lesson are in italics.

I will take some excerpts of past blogs about Rebekah, but if you want a quick way to do a deep dive how to highlight her in this lesson, check out Caroline’s post, “Rebekah of the Old Testament: a Mormon Feminist Model.”

Rebekah at the Well

This story highlights that Rebekah is an answer to prayer, chosen by God to be Isaac’s wife.

12 And he said, O ^aLord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, ^bsend me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.

13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw ^awater:

14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast ^aappointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.

Genesis 24:12-14

Rebekah appears, gives the servant water, waters his camels, and invites him to come stay with her family.

• What symbolism might we assign to the well and the water Rebekah is drawing from?
• Genesis 24:15–28, 55–60. What qualities do you find in Rebekah that you would like to emulate?

Former perma blogger, Denisse, writes a lovely summary of Rebekah at the well and offers the traits Rebekah exhibits here, “kindness, service, self-confidence, courage and great faith.”

This great faith is evident in that Rebekah and her family believe Abraham’s servant is sent by God, and Rebekah willingly leaves her family to go be a wife to a man she has never met.

We see that Rebekah’s family loves and respects her when they involve her in the bridal negotiations,

“And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.”

Genesis 24:58

Rebekah’s Infertility and Faith

Rebekah leaves her family of origin forever to marry a man she has never met. After taking this leap of faith, she can’t have children. She is a stranger in an unknown place, and in a culture where motherhood is the primary way a woman is valued.

• What would that have felt like for her?

I think of this in my own life when answers to prayers don’t come in the time or manner I expect them. I think of how the scriptures are full of stories of those who don’t fit societal conventions, who carry heavy burdens, and this helps me to remember that even as years go by with no clear answers to fervent prayer, we can know that God sees us and loves all of us even when we feel forsaken.

On a cheekier note, I appreciate the pattern here. While Sarah decides to “give her handmaiden” to Abraham, Rebekah remains Isaac’s only wife.

Does this decision for monogamy indicate a deeper love of Isaac and Rebekah…a deeper faith, or was Rebekah more confident in her role as a future mother? Of course, we can’t know the answers to these questions, but I find thinking about people in the scriptures this way enriches my scripture study and helps me to see these people of faith as more human and more as imperfect people trying to make their way.

Rebekah’s Revelation

In Genesis 25: 21, we see that Isaac goes to God, praying for a child, and Rebekah conceives. But, this pregnancy sounds hard and troubles Rebekah as we read,

“And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to ^ainquire of the Lord.”

Genesis 25: 22

God answers her in verse 23, and she is blessed with a prophecy

“And the Lord said unto her, ^aTwo nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the ^belder shall serve the younger.”

Genesis 25:23

• What is the significance of God speaking directly to Rebekah as she receives this prophecy? (Note: Rebekah and Hagar* are the only matriarchs in the Bible to receive answers to prayers directly.)  
• As a parent, how would you feel if you got this prophecy?
• Do you think this was comforting to Rebekah or upsetting?

This prophecy begins to come true when we see Jacob talk Esau into exchanging his birthright for food (Genesis 25:29-34).

Caroline sums up nicely what happens next: When Isaac is old, blind, and believes he is approaching death, he determines to give a special blessing to his firstborn son Esau. When Rebekah hears of his plans, she springs into action, ordering her younger son Jacob to impersonate Esau in order to obtain this blessing. Rebekah feels so strongly that Jacob should get this blessing – and no wonder, given her revelation from God forty years before that Jacob should inherit the promise – that when he objects, fearing a curse from his father if he is found out, she says to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my word, and go…..” (Genesis 27:13).

• How do you think Rebekah feels when she says this?
• Is she worried about a curse?
• Is this an example of extreme faith or extreme pride?

Jacob obeys and successfully receives this blessing, though their trick is quickly uncovered when Esau returns and learns of what has happened. Despite Esau’s anger and his own emotional reaction, Isaac does not choose to retract the blessing, but instead carries forward with the changed plans.

• Why doesn’t Isaac change his plans? Tradition dictates that Esau should have the blessing. Does Isaac perhaps continue because he knows Esau already sold his birthright?

Rebekah orchestrates all this, but I wonder if she knew the consequences. In Genesis 27: 41, we read,

“And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.”

• Did Rebekah know Esau would kill Jacob?
• Did her faith take into account that she might need to help Jacob escape and perhaps loose him as she lost her family of origin when she went to marry Isaac?

And of course, the question the lesson asks (I included the manual’s response here, too):  

• Were Rebekah and Jacob wrong to deceive Isaac?

We don’t know the reasons behind the approach Rebekah and Jacob used to obtain a blessing for Jacob. It is helpful to remember that the Old Testament as we now have it is incomplete (see Moses 1:23, 41). There may be information missing from the original records that would explain what might seem troubling to us. However, we do know that it was God’s will for Jacob to receive the blessing from Isaac because Rebekah had a revelation that Jacob was to rule over Esau (see Genesis 25:23). After Isaac acknowledged that he had blessed Jacob instead of Esau, he affirmed that Jacob “shall be blessed” (Genesis 27:33)—suggesting that God’s will had been accomplished.

A guest post by Mathy states, “Rebekah was given a prophetic revelation while pregnant with her twin sons that the younger son would be the one who should receive the birthright. As both sons grew, it became obvious why this revelation had been given and yet when the time came, Isaac still stubbornly insisted that he was going to give the birthright to Esau. So Rebekah intervened. She deceived her husband into giving the birthright to her righteous son Jacob. And she was in the right. Isaac was the priesthood leader, but he was dead wrong in his judgments, and if he hadn’t had a righteous and tenacious woman equal in her ability to receive Heavenly guidance and carry out righteous judgments, the line of the Priesthood would have been lost.”

Optional: Rebekah as a Model Mormon Feminist

While it probably won’t fly in most ward lesson plans, I’d like to indulge in our own virtual classroom space here and explore Rebekah as a model of faithful Mormon feminism borrowing Caroline’s hermeneutic framework.

“She might not shatter boundaries, but she does challenge them as she inserts herself into ‘men’s business,’ and Mormon feminists can find inspiration in her confidence and ingenuity as she does so. Rebekah therefore stands as an important model–a woman who acts with courage and confidence as she refuses to be sidelined and silenced by patriarchal familial expectations.”

“Like Mormon women, Rebekah operates within a system that imposes clear boundaries on her ritual actions. In this particular place, time, and narrative, it is not within the scope of possible action for Rebekah to bless Jacob herself, so she does what she can to ensure the proper outcome in the patriarchal context in which she lives…Some might wonder why Rebekah doesn’t simply have a conversation with Isaac and explain her revelation from God that Jacob is the heir to the promise, but the text gives us no clue as to why that was not an option.”

Tikva Frymer-Kensky, a Jewish feminist scholar, writes about Rebekah (“Rivka” in Biblical Hebrew), “Rivka knows he has made his decision and she will not be able to persuade Isaac to change his mind.” Thus trickery and manipulation are the only tools left to her in this patriarchal context. Frymer-Kensky justifies Rebekah’s actions given this realty, saying, “Rivka will use whatever means are in the tool kit of those without authority to make decisions…. Only the powerful value honesty at all costs. The powerless know that trickery may save lives.”

• What does faithful Mormon feminism look like to you?

*Don’t miss Kaylee’s beautiful interpretation of matriarch, Hagar, in The God of Hagar, Part 1 and Part 2 recently featured here on The Exponent. Hagar is mentioned perfunctorily in the Come Follow Me lesson plans, and Kaylee’s hermeneutics is an enriching exercise in scripture study as we think about Hagar, a marginalized and enslaved woman who God guides, saving her and her son to lead his own people of faith.

References:

Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: The Rivka Stories.” In Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories, 5–23. New York: Schocken Books, 2002.

Metzger, B. M., & Murphy, R. E. (1991). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Oxford University Press.

Meyers, C. (2021). Rebekah: Bible. Jewish Women’s Archive. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rebekah-bible